Pardon the pun of course but this is worthy of a read if you are a garden centre and looking to take your business to the next level. As a garden centre owner you know that it’s all about keeping the footfall coming to your premises. It’s a seasonal business with some high-value months – some of which are just manic. But how do you ramp up business volume and increase sales throughout the year?

It maybe the time for you to maximise your online presence. Find the time to review your garden centre’s online activity. Does it have one? If so what is it? Is it far reaching i.e, do you have a large audience on social media via the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? Maybe you do have social media accounts but you simply don’t do enough with them.

It’s time to change and put some focus into it. I will guarantee the more you put in, the more awareness and sales you will receive over time.

Create a Youtube channel where you can demonstrate online gardening tutorials, gardening tips and videos to potential customers. By giving away valued information in this way you will quickly build an audience and build brand loyalty. Even if your followers on Youtube are not local to your business you can still invite sales opportunities to them via e-commerce. Video content can also be seasonal of course and will stay on the internet for any time of the year. Gardening ideas for spring, summer, autumn and winter will be viewed over and over again.

2. Create a Facebook audience.

In the same way, you can edit your YouTube clips into smaller segments and post onto Facebook. Or, post the whole article which is a link to your blog page on your website. You could also embed the Youtube video into the blog post on your website. This way your Facebook audience will click through to your website to watch the video. And, of course on your website, there are offers and links to buy a product. Keep content flowing by posting other non-conflicting gardening images, content and media to your page on a frequent daily basis.

3. Use Instagram

You are a garden centre. The amount of photo’s that you can create is an opportunity not to be missed. You will easily build up a social following on Instagram. Use hashtags to increase a number of searches for your pic. Once you have a blooming Instagram audience invite them across to your other social channels.

4. Use Periscope

A LIVE broadcast application which allows you to tap into a geo-location audience. Viewers on the Periscope platform are able to see when there is a live broadcast and tune in. Once you have fans on Periscope they will be automatically notified when you start a live broadcast. Aim to build an audience and invite them to follow you on Facebook or visit your website.

5. Use Twitter

Twitter is a great place to interact with potential customers. Seek out local influencers such as community councillors, MP’s, local sports personalities and other ‘influencers’ with a large Twitter following of their own. If they retweet your content then you are tapping into their audience too.

A good rule of thumb on social media is not to ‘sell’ yourself or products directly. Try to engage with your audience, join conversations, re-tweet content that works for your business. And, every now and then publish an offer to your business or website.